Mouri Fools
by Monica Moss
Summary: This is how the great detective Kogoro Mouri revealed the Kaitou Kid's true identity before Conan Edogawa. It began with a subway ride with Inspector Nakamori and ended with an unexpected clue at the beach.


My in-depth editing (as opposed to the quick proofreading I did to meet my deadline earlier) is finally complete. I would quickly like to thank my reviewers (DetectivePandaTheif, CressidaRene, and Loyal DC Fan) and remind everyone that this is fanfiction for a reason: I don't own DC or MK. Please enjoy!

* * *

Mouri Fools

* * *

The Mouris were taking the subway to the beach for a little fun and relaxation.

They had brought matching green beach towels with a clover printed on them for the outing. Ran and Conan sat in seats oriented lengthwise along the car, discussing the family's plans for the afternoon. Kogoro snored in the seat beside Ran, loosely covered with his towel and greatly disturbing the other passengers with the noise he made.

At Ekoda, Ran saw a few passengers get off but many more get on, so she placed Conan on her lap, despite many protests from the boy, to make room for the new passengers.

Ran spotted a familiar face among the new passengers. "Isn't that Inspector Nakamori?" she asked, looking over at a man wearing a floral print button-up shirt with a plastic luau necklace over the top and a pair of tan shorts.

The inspector was with two teenagers around Ran's age: a girl resembling her, who wore a yellow T-shirt and denim shorts and had a beach towel decorated with a colorful seashell print draped over a shoulder; and a boy resembling Shinichi, who wore a dark green T-shirt and dark blue swimming trunks and held two water guns in his arms. "The inspector looks like he's going to the beach too," Ran commented to Conan.

Indeed, Conan noted, thinking the inspector looked quite unhappy for someone going to the beach. Conan then looked at the boy who had come with the inspector, thinking he looked familiar. _Where have I seen him before?_ he thought. _I've seen him and that girl with him at least once before, but where?_

The girl resembling Ran ran towards the Mouris, calling, "I found some free seats over here!" She then plopped down in the seat Conan had occupied. The girl was quickly joined by the Shinichi lookalike and the reluctant inspector.

The Shinichi lookalike grinned at the girl and said, "Hey, Aoko, you've found your long-lost twin!"

The girl, Aoko, looked at Ran and giggled. "We do look a lot alike!" she said. "My name is Aoko Nakamori. What's yours?"

"My name is Ran Mouri." Ran gestured over at the grumpy inspector, asking, "So, would the inspector be related to you?"

"He's my dad," Aoko affirmed. She gestured toward Ran's father. "I'm guessing the famous Sleeping Kogoro is a relative of yours?"

"Yeah, that's my dad," Ran told Aoko. "Who would have guessed that two girls who look alike would meet on the subway with their dads today?"

Two seats over from Aoko, past the Shinichi lookalike, Inspector Nakamori grumbled, "Why do we have to share a car with Sleeping Kogoro of all people?"

The Shinichi lookalike suddenly pulled out a bright yellow beach towel with a picture of the sun on it from nowhere. Handing it to the inspector, he quipped, "You're just grumpy because you were told to take some time to lower your blood pressure instead of chasing Kid! Here, take a bit of sunshine!"

"No thank you, Kaito."

Shinichi's lookalike continued to attempt to cheer the inspector up, ignoring that he was being watched by Conan._ I know he's familiar somehow. Who does he remind me of, or where have I met him before?_

Conan wasn't the only one with eyes on the boy – Ran also stared at Shinichi's double. When she realized what she was doing, she blushed and whispered to Aoko, "If we're twins, then our best friends are twins too."

"Really?" Aoko became embarrassed when she realized: "Oh, I've forgotten to introduce everyone. The clown next to me is my friend, Kaito Kuroba, a magician; and next to him is my dad, who you already know."

Ran nodded. "I've forgotten to introduce my group as well. You know who my dad is. This little guy is Conan Edogawa, who's staying with my family for a while."

Conan put on his best little kid grin. "It's nice to meet you, Miss Aoko!"

"Oh! He's so cute!" Aoko gushed. She tugged on Kaito's sleeve, saying, "Kaito, come meet Conan. You'll just love him!"

"Hee?" Kaito asked, looking over at the false-child. "Nice to meet you, Conan," he said, "Hey, um, you've got something in your ear."

"No I don't," Conan replied, to which Kaito's grin widened.

"Really?" The magician thrust his arm past Aoko to pull out a hundred-yen coin from Conan's ear. "Then what's this?" he asked the miniature detective.

Conan was unimpressed by the coin trick. "That's the coin you palmed to pretend to pull out of my ear. That's the oldest magic trick in the book, Kaito-niisan."

Kaito frowned and held the coin at Conan's eye level. The coin protested, "How rude! Kaito didn't pretend to pull me out of your ear."

"That's ventriloquism," Conan stated flatly, staring Kaito down.

Kaito looked put out at Conan's words. "What does it take to get you to smile?"

"I don't like magic."

"Not even a bit? I guess I'm wasting my time then." Kaito handed Conan the coin and said over Kogoro's snoring, "Here you go."

Around that time, Kogoro started to stir underneath his clover print beach towel. He opened his eyes and saw Kaito right away. Kogoro sleepily mistook him for the detective brat who'd befriended Ran. "You!" Kogoro roared, and he rose to hit Kaito upside the head, letting the beach towel fall on the floor.

Kaito clutched his head after Kogoro hit him. He yelped, "_Itai!_ What was that for?"

"You know very well what it's for!" Kogoro made to hit Kaito again, but Kaito ducked closer to Inspector Nakamori.

"Detective Mouri," growled the inspector.

Mouri took another swipe at Kaito, replying, "If it weren't for him..."

Dodging the swipe, Kaito interrupted the detective: "I've never met you before in my life!"

Kogoro finally realized, "You're not the detective brat."

Kaito glared at him, rubbing the spot where he'd been hit. "That hurt."

Kaito's best friend also glared at Kogoro. She said, "Kaito didn't do anything to deserve it this time, Detective Mouri."

Kogoro then registered who else had been against him hitting Kaito and decided to greet Inspector Nakamori. "Fancy seeing you here, Inspector! Let me guess, you got a notice from Kid about a theft at the beach?"

"Not exactly. Anou, I'd prefer you not hit any more kids either. I don't want to get involved with such a scene."

Kogoro was puzzled, and he became mildly insulted when the kid he'd hit asked, "What would Kid want to steal at the beach, Detective?"

The detective ignored the question. "It's not about Kid, Inspector? Then why are you going to the beach?"

Nakamori replied, "I have some time off today, so I'm taking my daughter, Aoko and her best friend, Kaito Kuroba, out for some fun."

"Nice to meet you, I think," said Aoko, elbowing Kaito to say something.

"I hope we can get along better than you and the 'detective brat,'" he said, appearing unfazed by Aoko's elbow.

Aoko told Kogoro, "Dad has some time off, so we're taking him somewhere he can relax and forget about that rotten thief for a while!"

Kaito added, "And I can work my magic with beach towels! Maybe I can make Aoko appear from the sand."

Aoko sighed. "Sou ka? I thought you'd want to go swimming."

"In the ocean? Uh-uh, you know what's in there."

Aoko stuck her tongue out at Kaito. "Wimp!"

"Oi! I'm not a wimp, Ahoko! You can't just say whatever you want, especially with strangers like Detective Mouri around!"

Kogoro pointed at Kaito as the teen bickered with Aoko. He asked Inspector Nakamori, "Can that brat really do magic?"

"_N_," replied the inspector, "Kaito trained under his father, the world-famous Touichi Kuroba, and Kaito's tricks earn tremendous praise from my daughter." Inspector Nakamori glanced at Kogoro's face while adding, "If you'd woken up a few minutes earlier, you'd have seen him doing some tricks for Conan."

Kogoro laughed, attracting looks from Kaito, Aoko, Inspector Nakamori, and Conan. "Aoko," Kaito whispered, just loud enough for the whole group to hear, "what do think he's laughing about?"

Straightening up, Kogoro declared, "You may have taken time off to forget Kid for a little while, Inspector, but you don't have to worry about him for a long while! I've figured out Kid's identity!"

"What!? Have you really? Tell me!" demanded Inspector Nakamori.

"It's so obvious! Why has no one figured it out before? Kaitou Kid is Kaito Kuroba!" Kogoro informed the group.

The group sweat-dropped in unison, except for Kaito. Instead, Kaito laughed, asking, "You think I'm _Kid?_ I hate to break it to you, but Kid's a lot better than me at magic. Besides, don't you think Kid would refrain from magic as a civilian around Inspector Nakamori, Detective Mouri?"

"Detective Mouri," said Inspector Nakamori, "I know of at least two Kid heists Kaito has a solid alibi for. Besides, Kid first appeared twenty years ago, so he's too old for a high school student."

"He wants you to think that! Inspector, Kaito Kuroba is nothing but an identity fabricated by Kid to get close to you police officers and get security details from you. Think about the similarities between Kaito Kuroba and Kaitou Kid: _Kaito_ is just one mora away from _kaitou_, both Kaito and Kid are magicians, both have black hair, and both are around the same height. There are too many similarities between the two for them to be separate people. Kid has obviously disguised himself as a high school student to conceal how he gets the details needed to prepare for heists."

The deduction came with a proud look on Kogoro's face and an eye-roll from Inspector Nakamori. The inspector gripped, ""Some great detective you are."

The inspector's daughter was also dubious. "But I grew up with Kaito! How could he have faked his identity during childhood?" Kaito's friend glared at the detective.

Kogoro huffed. He explained to Aoko, "Well your friend could have been Kid! I mean, if Kid consistently gets insider information on the police's plans to capture him, then he's inside or close to the police. The unit responsible for him should be examined a little closer." Kogoro paused to smirk at Aoko's father. "Right, Inspector?"

Inspector Nakamori's face burned red. "Why you...!"

"DAD!" the inspector's daughter shouted. "We're on vacation! Don't fight with the detective!" Sadly, Inspector Nakamori ignored Aoko's shout, as did the puppet detective also involved in the fight.

Meanwhile, Sleeping Kogoro's puppeteer thought over Kogoro's recent suspect's possible identity. _Detective Mouri's logic stank, but he might have stumbled across something significant with Kuroba._ Kuroba was spared a glance that showed him trying to end the fight between the grown men. _Kuroba struck me as familiar from somewhere, and now I realize he reminded me of Kid. Although Kid is thought to be older than Kuroba, his career had an eight-year hiatus, more than enough time for a replacement to take up the role. If Kid _has_ been replaced, the replacement might be Kuroba, but that's __unprovable, as expected when dealing with anyone who could take the original Kid's place._

The possible-Kid was given another glance. _If you are Kaitou Kid, then today you go free. __There is no proof you're Kid, after all. However, if proof ever makes your identity un__deni__able for me, I will put you behind bars myself._

Only Conan noticed when the subway train stopped. He shouted, "Ne, Ran! We're at our stop!"

Ran looked away from the fight when she heard what Conan shouted about the stop. "We are," she agreed. "Our stop, Dad!" she cried, dragging Kogoro out the door, Conan in tow.

The Mouris' disembarkment was watched by the others. The latter were glad to see the Mouris go until Kaito realized, "Hey, we get off here too, right?"

"Unfortunately," grumbled Inspector Nakamori. He muttered, loud enough for the teenagers with him to hear, "We'll have to put up with that pain, Detective Mouri, a little longer."

Aoko suggested, "Hey, maybe we should wait until the next stop to get off. I mean, there's beach access there too, and we'd avoid Dad fighting Detective Mouri again and Detective Mouri accusing Kaito again."

Kaito shot her a thumbs-up. "Good idea. Let's wait until the next stop."

Inspector Nakamori sat back down. "Fine with me. I didn't want to come in the first place. Who could relax at a beach with Kid still on the loose, even without Detective Mouri causing trouble?"

* * *

At the beach, Kogoro realized something important when he saw his daughter lay a clover print beach towel down on the sand: it was a _clover_ on Kid's monocle charm. Clover, Kuroba! Evidence! Thus, Kaitou Kid's identity was revealed through the great detective Kogoro Mouri's luck, not Conan Edogawa's intelligence, all because the Mouri's went to the beach...

...April Fool's!

At the beach, Kogoro realized, "I left my towel on the train!"

* * *

Owari


End file.
